Here we go again. BART police are accused of battery by an African American woman who claims she was beaten while handcuffed.
On March 21, BART police responded to a complaint of a group dancing and soliciting money. Nubia Bowe, 19, and two friends were identified by an eyewitness (who later recanted) as the solicitors. Despite other passengers who told officers that Bowe and friends were not the right group, the trio was arrested anyway.
“Once they pulled me off the train, I was first slammed to the ground and then thrown against the wall. The officers pushed me back down and continued to elbow and knee me in my back. My mouth was full of blood by then. The whole time this was happening, I repeatedly said ‘I am not resisting arrest. You are violating my civil rights,’” said Bowe.
But the unlawful abuse didn’t end at the Lake Merritt train station. Bowe says the beating continued at the Santa Rita county jail.
“Three male guards and one female guard came in my cell and beat me up,” Bowe told the Oakland Post. “They hit me and then said that I assaulted one of them. So they chained my wrists to my ankles and tipped me over onto the urine-soaked ground so I couldn’t get up. I could tell they were trying to break my spirit.”
Here, the teen describes her frightful experience at the police station.
Bowe has been charged with four misdemeanors. She was kicked out of her school program as a result. She must appear in court for a hearing on the BART charges on August 5, and Bowe must appear at a preliminary hearing for the Santa Rita charges on May 5.
This incident opened the still-raw feelings over the death of Oscar Grant , who was gunned down by BART police in Oakland, California in 2009. Grant was unarmed. He was shot in the back by Officer Johannes Mehserle, where he died the following day. The officer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to only two years in prison. He’s currently out on parole.
BART officials have neither denied nor confirmed Bowe’s allegations.